For A Single Night
by 94 Bottles Of Snapple
Summary: A little trip into Sissel's mind, and a reflection on the new present. For everyone else who felt cheated about the ending. SPOILERS FOR THE END in case you didn't read the last sentence.


**A/N: Just finished playing Ghost Trick yesterday (very late at night). I adored the game, it was amazing, and I loved all the characters. However… Though the ending is warm and fuzzy and gives you a sense of accomplishment, I am dissatisfied. Thus, this drabble (PS: Ghost Trick belongs to Capcom, and not me, you know—disclaimer!)**

**To darling Sissel, who got cheated into being a cat! (*ting*) **

* * *

For A Single Night

The thing he should have felt was joy. Joy, that his memories were returning, joy that everything was being righted. Joy that he was once again truly united with the only person who had reached out to him, a lonely kitten, ten years before.

That happiness was there, but it was fleeting. Next, Sissel felt sadness, despair, as he recalled the depths of pain that Yomiel had experienced in their ten years together. Felt once again that deep biting ache of having not been able to do something for his dear friend. The one who held him close, who fed him, the only one who even noticed him at all…

At last, when it was all over, when everything that was said could be said…

Sissel felt sick.

In those moments when time rewound, when the lives of so many people were being reset, had the feline had a body he might have puked. To be honest, though no one around him (namely the spirits of Missile, Detective Jowd… And Yomiel…) seemed to notice, there were plenty of reasons to feel sick.

First of all…

He was still in shock; suddenly realizing you have in fact been a dead cat and not a dead man for all of your unknown life is a very troubling thing.

Secondly, he knew now that no one but the other three spirits who had joined him on this journey back to ten years ago would remember him. Would remember what he'd done.

No matter how frustrating, how scary not knowing his identity was… This was worse. No one would acknowledge him, no one would speak to him like an equal, would be able to hear when he spoke back. Because in the process of altering ten years ago, he had permanently erased their deaths. There was no way to use his ghost tricks to connect with their minds.

And…

And he might never see Yomiel ever again.

In the new present, he was a part of Detective Jowd's household. Yomiel would not be around. Yomiel would not be there. Yomiel would be with his fiancé.

His… 'That woman'. Sissel still wasn't sure what a fiancé was, but it was apparently a woman Yomiel loved very much. Her name was Sissel too. Sissel wasn't sure how he felt being named after a woman, but if Yomiel loved her very much, then it meant that Yomiel cared about Sissel—male Sissel, cat Sissel—very much too.

And if Yomiel was happy, then Sissel was satisfied. In fact…

Everyone in the new future seemed happy, content… Brighter.

Yeah. Sissel was content to just watch these characters; to study these humans and their way of life.

…

And if you believe that, you're deluded.

Sissel was NOT content. He was glad that everyone else was happy, but…

After having a taste of what being human was like…

Well, to be perfectly blunt, Sissel was addicted.

Better yet, walking around with the face of that man, the one he respected so much, the only human who had acknowledged him ever… It was amazing.

It made sense now, in hindsight, when he had all his memories. He couldn't read; of course he couldn't. Who teaches cats to read? No one. Nobody at all. So many little details had fallen into place that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that this Sissel with black paws and gold eyes was the true Sissel. But that wasn't what Sissel wanted.

He wanted to be truly alive again. Truly alive as a human, which he had only accomplished in death. Flitting from object to object, bantering with Lynne and the little lady… Saving lives, fulfilling a purpose… Even messing up, even that, when he could rewind time and start all over.

Now… In his true form… The only way to get attention was how he had done it before. Rush up to a human, mewl like the tiny kitten he was. After that one night – the one, he reminded himself with a crippling wave of nausea, which did not exist – he was not under any pressure to think. He was regressing, because his new reality did not call for him to be a man in a red suit, it called for him to be a mindless little kitten with a red bandanna.

* * *

"… Sissel."

And when the little cat looked up, tears filled his golden eyes. It wasn't… It couldn't be…?

And a pair of dark shades glinted at him.

Yomiel…!

And when the man held out his arms, Sissel jumped into them with a flying leap. They were one instantly, minds connected. And it was only in this state, only in front of his dearest friend, that Sissel let the tears fall.

"Sissel… It's ok, old friend… It's-"

"It's not ok, Yomiel! It's not… I just… I don't want this… I didn't want it to be true. I want to remember being your cat, being your friend… But I don't want to be a cat anymore! I… I want to be human again…"

Yomiel did not point out that Sissel had never really been human at all.

"We switched places that night, didn't we, Sissel…"

There it was again, that wry smile Sissel had seen so often when Yomiel was suffering. The one where he looked sick and haggard and showed his true pain.

And something glittering slid out from behind the sunglasses Yomiel always wore.

A tear.

Yomiel was crying for him, was crying with him.

"I'm sorry, Sissel," Yomiel laughed bleakly. "I guess I just can't ever do right by you, can I friend? I killed you, I dared to ask for your help to save me… I asked for your trust when I had no right. And I've subjected you to this. I know you care about all of these people. How attached you are. How much you're suffering for every single one of us. I'm sorry I let you be human for that one night and then stole it all away from you in the blink of an eye."

The tears were too much now, blurring Yomiel into a red splatter of paint.

"It's… I just want…"

Sissel wasn't sure what he wanted anymore. There was no solution to this. No object or chain of events that could fix the present so that everyone would be happy. It wasn't possible.

"You're not a cat, Sissel. Not just a cat. You have the heart of a human being in there. I know that. Detective Jowd knows that. Missile does too. And even if no one else remembers, we will. You were a man that night, Sissel. A true human being, more so than I had ever been in those past ten years. Think of how many people you saved that night alone. I guess… It's really not much consolation, is it…? Me saying stupid things like that, huh..."

Yomiel was right. It wasn't much consolation. And yet…

Somehow, it warmed his heart.

His human heart.

Sissel began to purr.

* * *

"He seems so happy to see you! Sissel is usually a very friendly cat, but I've never seen him take to someone like this!"

It was the little lady's mom.

Yomiel just laughed, and scratched behind Sissel's ears.

"I'll admit, I think he's quite wonderful too."

Detective Jowd's wife returned to the kitchen, and Yomiel was serious once again.

"Remember, Sissel… You did things that night that I never could. You can still do those things. And… I owe my eternal happiness, the life of my dear fiancé… To you. For that reason, I could never forget you, Sissel. And I will always remember you as the man that you were that night."

And if just one person, especially the man that Sissel respected so much, let him be human, let him live up to the life—death—that he lived on that single, nonexistent night, that would be enough.

_Who am I…?_

_I think I know at last._

* * *

**Extended Ending:**

"I think it must be destiny we met again… Sissel."

The redhead smiled, and Sissel's heart swelled like a balloon.

She remembered… Somehow she remembered!

He wished he could express to Lynne what he was feeling in all of its human complexity.

But in his current situation, a hearty meow would have to suffice.

"Haha! I missed you too, Sissel. Thank you… For everything you did for us."

Yes… Everything would be ok.


End file.
